We need a Miracle
by six samurai of dragon order
Summary: They say when a miracle is needed most, it appears. But, what if the miracle that humanity needed most to survive the war didn't happened. What if they had a plan B? What if they had to leave known space to survive the covenant? Humanity lost the war A/U.
1. Humanity Lost

**February 3 - 2552**

**Location - unknown/ Time - 11:23**

Lord Terrence Hood was in a meeting about the war with the covenant. This is the third meeting he's been in since he has reached he's current position and he hates it just like the others. What was the point of these meetings anymore; he was needed to fight the covenant, not arguing with politicians over how to best save their assets or keeping them informed on how the war is going. There was even a few who thought that they knew how to fight this war better than him, granted he has only been fleet admiral for two years, it still doesn't change the fact that he has been fighting in this war sense the beginning. He knew what he was doing. 'sigh'. Sometimes he wished for the war to just end.

"Why do we continue to fight them, it is destroying our economy and our society. We cannot continue to fight them and expect some kind of miracle to happen. We need to talk to them, only then will this war stop." Said one Ruth Charet. She has numerous followers and has recently grown in power to the point that she could become president and no one could stop her. The only thing stopping her is the war.

Hood says "So why don't you explain your plan to stop the war." He was actually curious of the so called plan. If it had any chance of stopping the war, he would support it as best he could. But he had his doubts.

She smiled "I'm glad you asked. We give them shield world 0018." She looked smug. A look of horror crosses Hoods face. His eyes widen in shock. 'How could she even think of doing that?' Granted, he didn't know much about the place, only a few facts. They found it about a year ago and it is some kind of artificial planet.

ONI has sent over several of their best scientists, engineers, agents, and soldiers to unlock its secrets. He may not know much about it, but he even he could see the massive gain from studying the planet.

"You can't do that." Shouted Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, the head of ONI. A thought crossed her mind. "How do you even know about it? It's top secret."

Ruth replies "I have my ways." Anger was clear on Margaret's face.

Margaret stared at Ruth with looks that could kill a soldier. "You are to not give the covenant any information on the facility."

"I have already sent a frigate, the location of the facility, and a peace treaty to covenant space. I sent my most trusted aide to oversee the peace talks." Now she was being arrogant. Margaret clenched her fists tight enough to cause them to bleed a little. They needed time to study the planet and learn its secrets, time they didn't have anymore.

Hood stood up and said "That is going too far Ruth. You don't have the authority to make such a call. Call the ship back right now."

She looks at the clock on the wall and says "Too late. It will arrive any minute now."

Margaret rushes out of the meeting. Terrence sighs and says "This meeting is adjourned for today." He stood there for a moment watching everyone else leave. As everyone else was leaving he saw Ruth with a smile on her face, believing she had stopped the war. 'sigh' 'I wish that were true.'

Hood left shortly after. He knew where he had to go to find Margaret. As he arrived at her ship he saw two guards outside the air lock. The moment they saw him they saluted. He saluted back and kept on walking. They knew better than to stop him. It didn't take him long to find Margaret again.

When he saw her again, she was speaking to a hologram of someone, most likely a person from the facility.

"You are to pull ALL assets out of there immediately, sergeant."

"Yes, mam. We will have all data, scientists, and everything else taken and moved to a secure facility. Do we have an expected time frame for when they will arrive?"

She breathed out "A day at the soonest, a week at the most. If they arrive before you can get everything, then leave and bring what you did get to the usual place. Make sure everything else is destroyed, can't let them access to anything."

The person on the other side seem hurt for a moment, but it pasted "Yes, mam." The line was cut.

"What is it you need Terrence. I am not in the mood." Her face was neutral, but the tension in the air spoke of pain to anyone that disturbed her. Most people would just leave her alone and come talk to her another time. She was very influential, and can make many mysteriously disappear under unknown circumstances. However, Terrence was also very influential, well liked, and well known. Even she didn't have the power to remove him, but that didn't mean she couldn't make his life a living hell. He took a seat at the table and motioned with his left hand for her to have a seat as well. She just stayed standing and glared.

"Suit yourself." He stared at her for a bit, going over what he wanted to talk about with her. It was stupid, crazy, and the only chance they had. "We need to leave."

She looked at him like he grew a second head. "You're going to have to be clearer on what you mean."

"We're losing this war. You know it, I know it, and just about everyone else knows it. We can't win."

"If that is all..."

"I wasn't finished." His voice was stern and had an edge to it. "The covenant is destroying world after world and we can't do anything to stop them. We need to leave ALL known space and flee to someplace to rebuild. Disappear from the sights of the covenant and they won't find us. I know about the Infinity, if we had ships like that we could fight this war. As it stands not even it can defeat the covenant at this time, we need more than one. If we can find a place, a safe haven if you will, to settle down, we can build more. We can make them better, stronger, and more powerful than anything the covenant has; we can return and take back what's ours."

Margaret was stunned. What had her stunned was not so much the plan itself, but who it came from. She did not expect something like this from Terrence ever. Sure it crossed her mind a few times, but in all her years of knowing Terrence, she did not expect him to give up so easily. She thought he would fight to the bitter end while taking as much of them with him. A thought crossed her mind. "You're not the type to give up so easily, what made you come to this? Why tell me and not anyone else?" Her eyes narrowed.

He looked at her "What made me come to this you ask? Well, it's simple. The war. I have seen enough death and destruction to last a life time. I have had to talk to family after family after family that their son, daughter, father, mother, cousin, and more wouldn't be coming home. I have sent lives to their death knowing that they wouldn't be coming back just to buy us some time. I am sick of it all. Now why tell you. Again, simple. There is only so much I can do on my own. You have vast connections and can move ships, supplies, and even people without anyone knowing what is really going on. I need those connections to pull this off. I can't trust anyone else to help me pull this off." They stared at one another. "Will you help me save our people?" He raised his hand for a handshake.

She needed to think. She put her right hand on her face, palm non-touching.

On one side is refusing to help. She wouldn't need to move resources around to help. She could focus on ways to defeat the covenant and the insurrectionists. Really, not much would change. The downside was there was no way to tell how well her efforts will help. While she could stop the insurrectionists, the covenant was another story. She has sent dozens of ships into their territory to get any intel they could, less than half ever return. There was also the chance that Terrence would fail.

However, the other side is helping him. The amount of time and supplies she would have to pour into it to give it any real chance of success would be nearly everything she had. She wouldn't be able to focus on the covenant or the insurrectionists, leaving them open for more attacks. Even with help, there is no guarantee that the plan will work. One slip up would be all that it would take for the plan to fail.

After thinking over the pros and cons a little more, she finally conceded that this was all they had left. Terrence was right about one thing, there were losing the war, and if something wasn't done soon, humanity would become extinct. The only other option was to pray for a miracle, but she never puts her hopes on something like that. 'sigh'

"Before I agree to this, what would need to be done to make this work?" She may see this as the only option, but that didn't mean she wouldn't get the full details first.

Hood lowers his hand "There are several people, supplies, and equipment we would need to secure to bring us the best results. For people we need citizens and soldiers. Citizens are needed for obvious reasons and soldiers as well. However, ODSTs and Spartan would help immensely in the training of future soldiers. There is also the need for scientists, I would recommend Dr. Halsey, but she is a busy person, so I'll leave it to decide if to go for her or not.

Next we need supplies. We need travel to a place far away from known space to give us as much time as possible to rebuild, likely a few months. For that we will need food, medicine, and other such supplies to keep us afloat on the way there. A large variety of plants as well.

Finally, equipment. We need ships, a lot of ships. The Infinity will be needed; I'll send some supplies to speed it up to be ready in time. We also need materials, metals, and machinery. They're going to be needed to get us up and running as soon as possible.

All this has to be done before they reach Earth, otherwise we won't make it." He puts his hand back up "So, are you in."

There were flaws in it, but overall, not a bad plan. She'll fix it as they go. She looks at him and says "Aright Terrence, you got yourself my support." She grabs his hand and shakes.

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**- The events of Halo Reach take place between July 24 to August 30.**

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**Entering call... Hood.**

**Hood: It's almost time.**

**Entering call... Margaret.**

**Margaret: I know. But, I still need more time to finish a few last minute additions.**

**Hood: The covenant have taken REACH. We have two maybe three months left before they find Earth. You have until then to finish up whatever you can; for when they do, we have to leave.**

**Margaret: I know Hood, I know.**

**...**

**Hood: Let us pray they take longer than needed.**

**Leaving call... Hood.**

**Margaret: I don't pray, but your right, we need more time. I think its time I reveal the rebels to the covenant.**

**Leaving call... Margaret.**

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**November 2**

**- The battle of Onyx starts.**

**November 8**

**- The battle of Onyx ends.**

**December 1**

**- The battle for Earth**

**- The UNSC In Amber Clad, with SPARTAN-117 aboard, attempt to follow the High Prophet of Regret through a slipspace portal, but have to retreat when a salvo of plasma torpedoes are fired from assault carrier.**

**- The UNSC In Amber Clad under orders from Lord Terrence Hood Jump to the Phoenix system for a special assignment.**

**December 13**

**- More covenant forces arrive.**

**December 26**

**- After weeks of fighting, UNSC forces are pushed back with nearly half of Earth destroyed.**

**- A large alien artifact of unknown origin is uncovered by covenant forces under Kenya in Africa.**

**January 1**

**- With a force of over 1000 ships, the covenant take Earth.**

**- The battle for Earth is lost.**

**At the edge of the system a probe goes unnoticed by all. It has been recording all the fighting going on in the Sol system sense the start of the battle of Earth. Its job done, it sends it final data package and takes the next week to move around the system, staying outside the range of ships sensors, remaining unnoticed, and crashes into the sun. Destroying all evidence that it ever existed.**

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**January 2**

**Phoenix system - 30 light years from Earth**

**UNSC Infinity - Bridge**

The fleet they managed to gather was large by UNSC standards, being at 650 ships, excluding the Infinity and her ten Strident-class heavy frigates, the fleet was massive in size, even larger than the home fleet. Of the 650 ships, only 150 of them were actually military. Of those, 100 were cruisers or larger. Now, one would think it would be easier to get frigates or destroyers, but cruisers are less effective against covenant ships than frigates and there for were easier to move around without anyone caring too much. If they did question it, they were told it was being decommissioned or 'taken apart to build some frigates'. Sense both a cruiser and a frigate get destroyed in a single shot from covenant plasma projectors, many saw this as a smart move. Now they did get 30 frigates and 20 destroyers.

The other 500 ships they got were civilian ships ranging in size from 400 meters to 1.5 km. These ships were the ones carrying most of the building supplies, people, and food they would need to start anew, some were even modified to hold more. Of the 500 civilian ships, 100 of them were corporate owned. It was necessary to bring them in; otherwise they would have to start new businesses there, which would be more troublesome then it needed to be.

However, the most important part of the plan, the part that could make it or break, is the people. They could have all the supplies in the galaxy, but without people they wouldn't survive. An important part of getting the people was making sure they wouldn't turn against them. ONI had to screen person after person and family after family, to get people who weren't hidden rebels or who were against the idea. ONI had to turn 90% of their resources to this job to get it done in time. Another part was making them disappear without anyone knowing. Now this part wasn't all that hard, simply have them have a fake accident, move, or when the covenant is attacking and no one would really know what happened to them. Because of the simplicity of the part, ONI only needed 10% or their resources to complete the job. They had set a quota of 10 million people they wanted to get for the mission, they only reached 7 million. Out of 50 billion people, that was a small number. There wasn't anything that could be done at this point that couldn't put the mission at risk.

There was one problem however. They never got Dr. Halsey. She always said she wanted a safe haven for her spartan, and hood knew she would jump at the chance to keep them safe. Never the less, they couldn't wait to find her any longer. She is on her own now.

Finally, there is the Infinity.

At a length of 5.7 kilometers, width of 833 meters, and height of 1,041 meters, it truly was the largest ship ever built by humanity. It has advanced shielding to match covenant shielding and more. It's primary armament consists of four CR-03 Series-8 Magnetic Accelerator Cannons and some kind of experimental energy projector. It boasts a significant missile network that can be implemented for ship-to-ship combat, anti-air defense and orbital gunfire support for Marine forces. Placed throughout the ship are 1,100 missile pods of three types: Archer, Rapier, and Howler, totaling the ship's missile payload at 25,900 missiles. The Rapier and Howler missiles were new types that ONI is experimenting with. Close-in defense against enemy missiles, fighters, and boarding craft is provided by the ship's M966 Fortress point defense system, a network of 830 70mm automatic cannons. It also has a number of Mark 2551 Portable Magnetic Accelerator Cannon placed along the ship. The UNSC Infinity truly is a marvelous ship.

For all its perks, it did have a few flaws. The two most important flaws were its main weapons. Neither the MAC guns or the experimental energy projector were finished in time. They still needed some wiring, cables, and programing finished. They'll fix them when they find a new home. There was also some minor errors throughout the ship, but nothing else that would impede ship functions. He didn't like the fact that it wasn't finished, but it was still better than it still being in dry docks.

'Sigh'. "Aine, is everyone ready for departure." He is seriously looking into retirement plans when they find a new home.

A golden thirty year old woman with variable clothing appeared on a holotank nearby. "Yes, all preparation are complete. We can leave on your word." He nodded to Aine. He looked at everyone one the bridge and opened his month to give a speech to help ease their nerves, but... "Slipspace rupture detected, 8 o'clock." Hood swore.

There were no more ships coming, so that only left one possibility...

...the covenant.

"Send a message to all ships, I want all guns locked on and ready to fire. Prep all missile batteries" "ONI IFF detected." "to fire on my..." Hood looked at Aine. She returned a smile and waved. "Tell all ships to stand down." He said slowly, unsure of what to make of it. "Confirm that IFF and contact the..." "Incoming transmission from Point of No Return." Hood slammed his hand down. He was getting annoyed at getting continuously interrupted. He put it aside for now. "Open the channel." On the front screen appeared Margaret. "Explain that ship." Pointing in its general direction.

"_I'm just as surprised as you are."_ Hood crossed his arms under his chest. She signs. _"That ship is Hidden Shadow. I sent it to find Dr. Halsey."_

A thoughtful look appeared on hoods face. "That could mean..." He said softly.

"_Yes, I have just confirmed that Dr. Halsey is, in fact, on board. It would also seem to be a few surprises on board as well."_ She had a small smile. Hood wanted to question her about the surprises. _"But enough about that, we should be going soon."_ He dropped it for now.

Hood nodded. A smile appeared on his face. A way to bring everyone's hope up real easily. "Send a message to all ships, Dr. Halsey has just joined the fleet." A few on the bridge smile. Margaret looks at him sternly. Hood waved her off. "It will raise morale for everyone." She stared at him a moment longer before cutting the connection.

"Now then, let's try this again. All ships prepare to jump on my mark." The people on the bridge spin up the ftl drive and plotted in the coordinates. "Mark."

All ships in the fleet activated their ftl drives and entered their slipspace portals to their first destination on their journey.

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**Five days later - 120 light years from Earth**

**Lora system - 12:52**

In the middle of the system hundreds of black portals opened up and dropped out 662 some ships. The ships started to scan the system to make sure no covenant or other hostiles were in the system.

The Lora system was abandoned over a decade ago, so no one expected to find anything, so when the spirit of fire is detected, everyone is at a loss for what to do.

**UNSC Infinity - Bridge**

"You're telling me that ship" pointing at the one on the holotable "is the Spirit of Fire that has been missing for the past 20 years." Aine nodded. Hood signed before pacing around the room.

After five minutes of pacing and thinking the situation over, hood is interrupted "Doing nothing isn't going to solve our problem. We either sends troops over to confirm the status of the ship or we leave. We can't keep waiting otherwise the covenant may stumble upon us." Said Aine.

Hood thought over what she said and knew she was right, they couldn't wait. "Alright, send the frigates Golden Fire and Ocean Waves to check it out." Aine nods before blinking out to complete her task.

**20 minutes later**

Steve, Jake, Miles, Luna, and Estelle were squad 8 of 20 squads sent in to find out what happened to the people. Looking around they saw this weird organic stuff in random places. They didn't have a clue as to what the hell it was.

Their mission was to check the cryo-chamber room and see was alive. Said room was just behind the next door.

"Alright people" Said Miles, the leader "The next room is the cryo-chamber. We are to find as many people as we possibly can. We clear." They nodded, each marine holding their own weapon. The door opened and they saw hell.

**(The scene inside the cryo-chamber is a bit graphic. If you don't like this, skip the next bit.)**

Inside the room was not a mess, it was chaos. In one corner of the room they saw the organic stuff covering part a head and was feeding of it. Half the head looked like it had its flesh ripped off and had bone showing. Off to the side they saw a corpse ripped into six pieces. Head, both legs, both arms, and body. Little strings of flesh still connected the parts, blood was covering the ground. The corpse must have been old, because part of flesh were falling off it. Some did now. One corpse had the stuff covering him like rope keeping him trapped where he was, INSIDE his cryo-tube with his face pressed against the glass. The man's arm was through the glass a little above his head with glass sticking out of it. Flesh was ripped of it with the hand looking like it could fall off at any moment. The man's face had a look of terror on it, his jaw was missing and so was a few teeth. Jack thought he saw his right eye twitch.

**(It ends.) (I wonder how well I did.)**

They close the door. They saw only a small part of the bay, and it was bad. None of them wanted to open the door again.

Jake throws up to the side. Luna and Estelle didn't move. Steve is in shock and Miles feels faint.

"The..." Steve couldn't even speak.

Miles click his comm. on. "Command, this is squad leader Miles. Do you co... copy." His voice cracking a bit.

"_This is command, we read you. What is the status of the cryo-chamber room 8."_

...

"Everyone is dead." It took a moment to say.

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Over the next week the ship is checked for survivors. Cryo bays 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 11 all showed different ways to mutilate a human. Cryo bays 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 and 12 all had different amounts of survivors.

When questioned, everyone said the organic stuff was called the flood and needed to be destroyed.

Scans show that less than 20% of the ship was covered with it. While many argued it would be better to simply nuke the ship and move on, others said it would help in the long run. Being a colony ship first, it had the means to start up a colony 10 times faster then what they had. The second week was spent removing the flood from the ship. A few days were spent scanning the ships to make sure the infection was completely gone.

632 lives were lost removing the infection from the ship. 4,252 lives were rescued from the ship.

After the fight the Spirit of Fire was given the all clear, it was given mild field repairs to make it jump capable. During repairs the A.I. core was found destroyed and was replaced with the NAVCOM from one of the Infinity's strident class ships, along with its slipspace drive. After four days the repairs were done. While not combat capable, it could make a jump without killing everyone on board. The Spirit of Fire crew once again boarded the ship.

With the Spirit of Fire joining the refugee fleet, they left once more.

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**One month later - 500 light years from Earth**

"So, what do you think of the new world." Said an older female voice.

"It's nice." Said an older male voice.

"It needs a name you know. Got any."

"I was thinking Eden."

"You got that from Adam and Eve."

"So. We're starting a new life here. I says its perfect."

They both look down at the world, it was beautiful.

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**4,295 words in the chapter, excluding the A/N.**

**I just want to say a few things before signing off. One, I have no idea what my update schedule will be, they come when they come. Don't bitch. This is more of a side story I'll do when I'm not working on my A Better Humanity story. Two, the ship numbers. For the UNSC to fight the covenant for so long as they did, they had to have at least 5,000 war ships at the start of the war. So 150 ships is not a lot, same with the civilians. Three, I do the best I can, I'm not perfect. I make mistakes.**

**Bye, have a nice day.**


	2. Saren's Life

**Sorry for the late update, I meant to put this out last week, but life happened.**

**Anyway, I have this YouTube channel, link in my profile. Please check it out, like and subscribe if you like the content.**

**Spartan-G257: I have talk to him, and well many of the facts in halo make no sense. Like where Harvest is. It says it's the farthest colony world at 12 light years, but he found madrigal at 85 light years from Earth. Explain that. I have found many different conflicting facts for halo; I can't really tell what is true. So after thinking it over, I have changed a few facts to make this work, nothing big.**

**The facts I have changed are: UNSC slipspace drives now go 20 light years a day instead of 2. The Phoenix system is 30 light years instead of 3. They found the spirit of fire 120 light years from Earth instead of 9. The new world they settled is 500 light years from Earth instead of 50. UNSC space is 100 light years in diameter instead of 10-12.**

**Granet: ?. The probe was to be an ONI one, to record how Earth fell. Now, maybe I'll do something else with it. Maybe. We'll see. Can't be geth because of what I have planned, it would ruin it.**

**Chro2: Yeah, I have read over analysis before.**

**RandomReader: Found some spelling errors. Thank you. The 'woman that wants to make peace with the covenant' does know that it's a war of extermination; I just made it that way. She believes the war will end by doing this, I mean who wouldn't want to believe that. They are dying. I am sociality stupid, I don't talk to other people much, except my family. The 'consequences of the Covenant getting access to the shield world'. It's a shield world, it doesn't matter what is there, it will help the covenant immensely. Finding Spirit of Fire happened outside UNSC space now, and after a few jumps. The political system, I don't know what you find wrong. I know high ranking members of the military are politicians, doesn't mean they like it. Parangosky talking to a private is changed to a sergeant. Really, if you don't like the story, don't read.**

**This chapter is not meant to be really detailed.**

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Ilos - In route to the Conduit

Saren POV

Saren was having a good day... no, a great month, if he said so himself. He was a bit stiff from the cybernetics Sovereign had implanted in him to 'improve' him it said. While he was concerned about it, he went with it anyway. And he definitely felt stronger than before. Right now he was on his way to the Conduit to attack the Citadel.

While waiting for the trip to the Conduit, he decided to think about how he got here in the first place.

_**Flash back**_

_It all started one month ago when some asari found some prothean ruins on the recently settled world of Anarv. He was considering attacking the colony for its secrets, but when it was reported that they found a working prothen beacon, he knew he had to attack. Now if it was a turian colony he would be more hesitant to attack, but sense it is an asari colony, he did not care as much. The attack in space went more or less as planned. Catching the defense fleet off guard was easier than expected and they destroyed them with only light damage to their shields._

In space

They had just arrived in system and right to the left of the few ships in orbit. 'Who ever thought that attacking from the front was a smart idea was an idiot and should be shot.'

He turned to a geth to his left and said "Have all ships fire on my mark." He turned back to the front without waiting for a reply knowing it would be done. "Mark." All ships fired at the asari defense fleet. The asari took massive damage to their ships in the first volley, including one destroyed frigate, another crippled, and a third close to dead. The cruiser took only 8 hits and still had its shields at around 17%.

The cruiser and still barely living frigate fired a volley of disruptor torpedoes to deal as much damage as they could. Most were shot down before they got close, and the ones that got through hit the shields of quarter of the geth fleet, however, no shields collapsed and only minor hull strain. Kinetic barriers were not made to stop the effects disruptor torpedoes, but they did lessen the effects. This time Sovereign attacked with two of its five hand cannons destroying the last two ships. With all the ships destroyed, they began the ground assault and to extract the beacon.

_The ground assault was much harder to fight, even without communication. The asari proved that they were the finest warriors in the galaxy. While many of their tactics proved ineffective against the geth, their biotics did. 'Oh spirits, the biotics.' I found out that biotics were really effective against the geth. The only way to deal with them was to swarm the asari when they were found._

Geth dropships flew down from the sky with fighters for support. Destroying everything they could and dropping platforms as they went. It was slow for the asari to react and when they did most of their forces were already dead. They immediately switched to hit and run tactics.

'Unit 25-56-43 has found an asari squad in sector 36-68." _"Reinforcements inbound."_

Ten minutes of waiting and five dropships arrived. Dropping their loads, they returned to base. The geth now had 15 troopers, 2 primes, 3 destroyers, 2 hunters, and 1 armature.

"Get ready ladies, were moving in two minutes." The asari in charge.

It was at that moment the 15 troopers, 2 primes and 3 destroyers appeared to the north of them with suppressing fire. The 8 asari moved to cover and fired back. Using their biotics the asari were able to take out 4 of the troopers in the opening engagement and damaged a destroyer.

The geth hunters sneaked around to the back of the fighting and opened fired on the asari's exposed backs. Fighting from two fronts cost the asari three people before they got their act together.

Three asari used biotic barrier to help protect everyone. Using a combination of warp and singularity the asari were able to take out 3 more troopers and the damaged destroyer. The asari knew they needed to retreat, they were getting overwhelmed. Running to the west to escape, they run into the armature. Running back into cover cost them another person. Surrounded on all sides with their backs to a wall, they were trapped. The ensuring fight lasted 10 minutes before the geth finished off the remaining asari.

Geth total lost count: 12 Troopers, 1 Prime, 3 Destroyers, 0 Hunters, and a slightly damaged Armature.

_After a few hours of battling for the beacon, it was in my hands. The beacon implanted a 'vision' of some kind in my head that I couldn't understand. I ordered the geth to destroy the area and leave no trace with type 3 helix bombs, the resulting explosion took out around 100 kms (about 62 miles) in diameter of land. Add in loss of communication and the death of nearly everyone and no one knows what really happened expect a few rumors about geth and mechs._

As Saren stands before the prothean beacon, it grabs him in a field and raises him into the air. It began to embed a vision of some kind into his mind. The images he saw he could not understand. When it finished, it lowered him back down. He landed and fell down to his knees. His vision swayed and he was breathing heavily. He shakes his head and covers his eyes for a few moments to ease the pain. After getting over the nausea, he stands back up "Is everything finished."

"There is a 5.26561% possibly that there are asari still alive in the surrounding area." Said a geth unit.

Saren's eyes narrow "I want that possibly to be zero. Plant the bombs as well. Destroy the entire colony and leave no evidence that we were here." He walks into the waiting drop ship and heads beck to sovereign.

In space Saren watched the resulting explosion, it was not only large, but almost guaranteed no one would find out. Sovereign was already heading towards the mass relay.

_Afterwards I headed back to the Citadel for a break. Hey, even evil people need breaks. I spoke to an old 'friend' while I was there, celebrating_ _Thane becoming a spectre. However, that all came to an end, when I received news that SOMEONE had evidence that implicated that I was both involved with the Geth AND that I was involved with the attack on Anarv. I immediately took care of it._

"Saren, there you are. We're celebrating Thane making it into the spectres over here." Said a smiling Nihlus. He was waving at Saren over. Saren really know what was going on, but didn't say anything.

Saren thought it over for a moment, and shrugged. He came here to relax, so why not. He pulled up a chair and sat down. Thane was to his left and Nihlus was to his right, they were sitting in a triangle formation. There were a few drinks on the table, two empty, one nearly full in front of Thane and one half full in front of Nihlus. Thane's drink was line green and Nihlus was blue. "Those better not be alcoholic." He fixed them both with a slight glare.

Nihlus replied "Don't worry, they're fiss drinks. Nothing to worry about." The glare was dropped. Nihlus took a small drink. "Order something, I'm buying." Saren shrugged again.

Looking the menu over "Alright... I'll take a Neress." It was a cheap and smoothing drink. It wasn't one anyone really drank often, but there is one special property about it that made it one of the more popular drinks. Muscle relaxant. No one knows why they made it like this, but dam, it's helpful. It takes around three standard cups to really feel the effects, with six needed for the full effect. One, however, gives only mild effects, such as loosening up stiff muscles, which is what he wanted.

Nihlus nodded before waving a waitress over. When the asari arrived "We would like a Neress for my friend." Pointing at Saren. She nodded and wrote the order down before leaving.

Saren asked Thane "Tell me Thane, sense when did the alliance apply for spectre candidacy. Last I checked, your people kept to themselves and rarely talked or traded with anyone... expect the hanar." The last part was said as an afterthought.

"My people have been talking about being more active and playing a larger role in galactic politics for many years now. It was eventually decided that the spectre position would be a reasonable place to start. My people hope to one day join the council as well." Saren stared at him. One doesn't just join the citadel council, you have to earn it. As if reading his thoughts "However, such plans are centuries down the line, mostly likely a millennium. We are in no rush, and would rather have our plans take such time than to rush and have them fail."

Nihlus spoke up. His voice was laced with confusion. "I sent you a message months ago telling you I was evaluating him. Didn't you get it?"

Saren had the decency to be sad and speak as such "Sorry. I must have missed it." He gave a slight bow Nihlus's way.

Nihlus just shakes his head. "What have you been doing for the last few months?" Nihlus was a little upset about this information, sure they didn't keep in contact much, but that didn't mean they didn't talk any more.

'I have been looking through numerous prothean ruins and the terminus system for clues to the location of the conduit, working with the geth, and, just recently, attacked and destroyed an asari colony.' He did not voice such thought however, so he lied. "I have been infiltrating and destroying several pirate bases in the terminus system. Sorry, for not keeping in contact. But, I would rather not be exposed and killed thank you very much." It was true, in a sense. He did come across a few pirate bases and did destroy them, he just wasn't infiltrating or looking for them. But they didn't need to know that.

The waitress from before came back with Saren's drink. After setting it in front of him she left.

"Did you get my message about Thane getting accepted?" At Saren shaking his head no, Nihlus sighs. "Unbelievable." He just puts his hand over his face.

"Tell me Saren, what brings you to the citadel today." Asks Thane. Nihlus listened in.

"Well, I decided to take a break from all the fighting and just came here. No other reason really." A pause. "Now then, I believe this is a congratulatory party for Thane, not questing what I am doing." He put on a smile.

Saren raised his glass for a cheer, the others joined him. Right as the glasses clicked, Saren's omni tool pinged with an alert. He put his glass down and pulled up the message. His face grew darker the more he read.

_**From: Jacobus**_

_**To: Saren Arterius**_

_**I'm sorry, Saren, I failed you. When I was on the looking for some prothean ruins I find some spirts dam quarians. They shut down two of the geth units in the area and took their memory cores. Not sure if they got anything or not, but with them being quarians they likely got something. Even if they didn't, they still saw the geth, so I knew I had to take them out.**_

_**I followed them to Illium, and luck would have it, they were stuck in orbit for several hours, gave us time to land first and plan an ambush. It worked, we killed all of them... except two. How don't know how it happened, but two got away and made for the citadel.**_

_**Naturally, I followed.**_

_**I chased them halfway across the Citadel trying to kill them. Along the way I hit them, but I knew I needed to confirm the kills. Later I found the male of the two dead in front of an incinerator, only to get locked in. I am now trapped in here. More bad news, the suit rat turned on the incinerator! Fuck.**_

_**I would rip that rat to pieces if I could.**_

_**I can feel my blood boiling under my plates.**_

_**She's injured, but not dead. She's likely to find a medic willing to help her, however unlikely that is. I hope she is given a painful death.**_

'Sigh.' 'I need to deal with this.'

"What's the message about?" Saren perked up at this. He couldn't tell them, it could ruin everything.

"A... contact of mine needs to speak with me over something important."

"Do you need to talk to him now?"

"Sorry Nihlus, it can't wait. I'll contact you later to see about another get together. I promise."

Nihlus was upset about this, he just got here. But then he remembered, Saren is a workaholic. "Fine, I'll let it slide this time, but I expect you to keep your word." His eyes narrowed.

"Yea, yea, I'll keep my promise." Saren got up and left right after.

'Now then, who would help a quarian?'

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**5 minutes later**

Saren was riding down an elevator, banging his head into the side of it. Thinking of ways to kill the machine. 'Why... is this... machine... so spirts... dam SLOW?' Each pause was met with a bang. In the back ground he could hear news reports about the attack on Anarv.

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**25 minutes later**

Saren was walking along the presidium, going from hospital to hospital, clinic to clinic (there are quite a few on the citadel), looking for the suit rat, with no luck. He didn't really know any of them that well, and couldn't really say who would help or not, so he checked all of them.

He was walking into another clinic to ask them if they knew.

He opens the door and takes notice of the size of it. It was small, then again it was a clinic. It could handle two maybe three people at a time for small injures, not anything serious, but there were very few places left to look, so he didn't have much of a choice. There was only three medics here with no patients.

"Hello, how can I help you?" An asari maiden walked up to him. She had a smile on her face. She was one of three working here.

"Yes, my name is Saren, a spectre." Her eyes widen largely upon hearing that. "I'm looking for a female quarian that has been shot recently. Have you seen her?"

She was still in mild shock that a spectre would come here of all places, the other two weren't doing any better. He tapped her shoulder to bring her back into reality. "Wha..." She shakes her head. "What is you need?" He twitched.

Saren was a bit annoyed but pushed it aside. "I'm looking for a female quarian that has been shot recently. We have reason to believe she has highly valuable intellect for the council. Have you seen her?"

"Uh... There was Tali that came through here not too long ago and she was shot, but... do you really think she has such valuable intellect." Her eyes were wide.

'Finally, a clue!' "I don't know." Passing it off as if it was nothing. "All I know is that mercenaries are after her, and they believe she has information about the recent attack on Anarv. I need to find her and verify this information." Her eyes widen. "Now, she was here not that long ago, correct." She nods. "Alright, do you happen to know where she went?"

"She said she wanted to get in contact with the shadow broker, so I pointed her in the direction of Fist." Saren's mandibles twitched. The shadow broker was a problem... but fist wasn't.

"I thank you for your help." He bowed. "Have a good day." Who ever said being nice didn't get the job done was stupid. He, however, would have preferred to just got the information and left and not worry about being polite. They were, however, civilians, and if he caused a scene, it could cause problems. He turned around and left. Now he needed to talk to fist.

**Outside Chora's den**

Chora's den is a relatively new establishment, being only five years old. It, however, was one of the more popular joints for people to hang out. Nobody really knew how it got as popular as it did in such a short time. Some believed it was the 'supposed' connections to the shadow broker Fist had, others said it was the way it was presented, and Saren, he honestly couldn't care less. What he did care about, was the fact that the, hopefully, quarian he is looking for came to see Fist.

As he was walking up to the door, the krogan bouncer step in his way. "You leave the guns here." His voice laced with the promise of pain if it wasn't followed. "Or not, that would be more fun." He chuckled lightly.

Saren blinked once. "My name is Saren Arterius. I'm a spectre. I need to speak with Fist."

"Not gonna happen. No one sees Fist, especially not a spectre. Now, move along, your blocking the walk way."

Saren stared at the krogan for a moment before saying "I am going to walk through that door" pointing behind the krogan "and walk up to Fist, and talk to him. Keep standing in my way, you'll regret it." His voice was calm, as if speaking about the weather. It, however, spoke of much pain for the krogan.

The krogan, however, wasn't fazed, in fact, lightly smiled. "No one sees Fist." His smile got bigger as he pulled out his shotgun and pointed it at Saren. "But I'll be **more** than happy to keep you company." Emphasis was put on more. He pumped the shotgun once.

If Saren tried anything, he knew he would get shot before he got to try anything. So he turned around.

Seeing this the krogan snorted. "Typical, nothing but cowards." At this point he pulled his gun up to his chest and was putting it away. Believing Saren wasn't a threat anymore, he let his guard down. How far from the truth it was.

Saren had taken one step when he hear it.

Saren's plan was a fake turn around, then back turn around and face the krogan and paralyze him before he could react. Now, after what he said, it was to kill him. You do not insult his people.

With his guard down, the krogan didn't react fast enough when Saren turned around with an omni blade out and ready to strike. Saren charged. The krogan went for his gun on instinct and pulled it halfway out by the time Saren was on him. The blade went straight into the krogans neck, and out the back. He pulled to the left, nearly taking the entire krogans head off. He fell to his knees clenching his throat with both hands. He then fell to his left onto his side.

Saren watched this emotionlessly. He honestly didn't care that he killed the krogan. He didn't care that he killed at all. To him, it was an average do thing.

He took his eyes off the dead krogan and open the door and went inside.

Inside there was dozens of individuals drinking and partying, mostly drinking. There was four asari dancers wearing exotic and revealing clothes. There was turian, salarian, drell, even a few asari.

Saren ignored all this and walked around the bar to the back. Standing in front of the locked door was another krogan. The krogan tensed at the sight of Saren. Saren was not in the mood. He stepped right into the face of the krogan and jabbed his pistol into his chin before he could react. "You open that door, or you get to meet the same fate as your friends outside. Choose wisely."

The krogan didn't move, having a gun at your throat did that. He was thinking on what the best move would be at this point.

On one side he could let the guy through, or try and kill him. Yea, two very simple and easy chooses. His chose was made. He reached for his gun slowly, inch by inch, inch by inch. Didn't need to piss off the guy any farther. Before he could grab his gun, the com. beside the door turned on. _"Let him 'hiss' through, Duvanor."_

"Wha... I could take him. He's not that tough." Eyeing the panel.

"_He's a spectre, 'hiss' kill him and 'hiss' more will come, 'hiss' and they 'hiss' will not be as 'hiss' nice as this one. 'hiss'"_

Duvanor grumbled at this. He points to Saren. "You get to go through, but mark my words, try something, and you will be nothing but a smear on the wall." He walks over to the front of the door before activating his omni tool and pushing a few buttons on it. The door hissed open. Saren walked through as the door closed behind him.

He walked to the end of the hall and opened the door. It led to a small office.

Fist, a volus, was sitting behind the desk in the middle of the room. He gestured to the seat in front of his desk. "Please, take a seat. 'hiss'" His voice was a bit stressed. Likely from Saren being here. Saren didn't move. "Your chose. 'hiss'"

"I want to know about the quarian that came here."

"No can do. 'hiss' She has made a ' hiss' deal with the ' hiss' shadow broker already. ' hiss' He'll kill me ' hiss' if I double cross ' hiss' him." Saren's face harden. "We have done ' hiss' business before Saren, ' hiss' you know how ' hiss' it works."

"What if I made it worth your while? Say, 5 billion credits." He had a smug look on his face.

Fist thought it over, weighing the options he had, stick to the shadow broker or Saren. "Make it 7 'hiss' and you have a 'hiss' deal." Really, if he didn't help Saren, he's likely to get shot or tortured for the information. Something that would be very unpleasant. He may be able to fool the... who was he kidding, the shadow broker was going to find out, it was only a matter of time. He's going to need to beefen up security, and soon. Or, he could try and make a deal with him, like before.

Saren didn't move, twitch, or show in any way that he was surprised, because he wasn't. He expected something like this, and so came with 10 billion to bargain with. "Deal." He pulled up his omni tool and transferred the amount to Fist. After the transaction was completed "Now, where is she?" Fist just hit one key on his computer and a message pinged on Saren's omni tool.

"All the 'hiss' information you 'hiss' need is in there. 'hiss' You have one 'hiss' hour before the appointed 'hiss' time. Now leave, 'hiss' I have other matters 'hiss' to take care of." 'hiss' He got to work on his computer.

Saren didn't even spare a glance in his direction as he left, reading over the location.

**One hour later**

Saren was standing in the alleyway where the quarian was going to show up. The alley had a few boxes, some pipes coming out of the ground, and a small wide open area. Really, it was just like any other alleyway. But, this one was were the meeting would take place.

He was hiding in the shadows nearby, overlooking the meeting point. He has been here waiting here for 10 minutes now, and the meeting isn't for another one. The only reason he came so soon was to make sure he didn't miss it. People have been known to come early to these kinds of meeting, or even late.

'Sigh' Sometimes he contemplates what he is doing, and asks himself if what he's doing is the right thing.

It was then, at the corner of his eyesight that he saw a turian with two salarians walk into the alleyway. 'That must be the shadow broker's men.' He looks the other way, and sure enough, a quarian was walking into the alley as well. 'Good, I didn't miss it.' The two salarians broke off into defensive positions.

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." She was nervous, that much was certain.

"Yes." She looks around. "Where's Fist. Where's the shadow broker."

The turian scuffed "Fist, I don't know, but the shadow broker. You thought you would be meeting the shadow broker. What gave you any idea that you would be meeting him? He runs the largest information agency in the galaxy, so what made you think you would get to meet him. I have been working for him for 15 years, and I haven't even seen him. I don't care what info you have, the best you'll get is talking to him over the phone." He started to glare near the end. He eased up. "Now then, to clarify. You have information that implicates that one 'Saren Arterius' was both involved with the attack on Anarv AND is working with the geth."

Tali grumbled before nodding.

'That is all I need.' Saren throws three grenades at the two salarians in the back, taking care of them. He then pulls out his assault rifle and fires straight at the other turian. With disrupter ammo, his shields went down fast, with him following shortly after.

Tali did have sense of mind to take cover, then again, he needed her alive, so shooting her is kind of moot. So instead he rushed her, caught off guard with the tactic, she only got off one shot with her shotgun before he tackled her to the ground. His shields absorbing the rounds. Her gun was lost. Saren put his left hand around her throat and his right around her left wrist. She tried using her right hand, but wasn't strong enough.

"Tell me quarian, where is the evidence?"

"Get off me you bosh'tet." She did her best to kick him off. Failing badly.

Saren began to think on where she could have hid it, but came up with nothing. Quarians were disliked just about everywhere, so she would have next to zero options as to where she could put it. He went over them.

There were the doctors that healed her, she may have trusted them enough to hold the data. No, if they had the data, they would have shown him. They could have known what the data was about and tried to hide the data and throw him off. No, they wouldn't have pointed in the direction the quarian went. It can't be there.

It can't be Fist, otherwise this meeting wouldn't be happening.

So where. Maybe the migrant fleet. No, she wouldn't have gone to the shadow broker.

So spirits where. A crack is heard from under his palm covering her wrist. 'Of course, how could I forget about her omni tool.' He pulled it off her wrist. With her arm free, she used it to help remove his other arm. He looked at the devise for a moment before kneeing Tali in the stomach. She gasped in pain and clutched her stomach to help ease the pain. She didn't notice him letting go of her throat and didn't see him pull out his pistol either. 'Bang' 'Bang' 'Bang'. Three shots were heard from that alleyway.

Saren later had the omni tool scanned and sorted through by the geth to confirm the data was there.

_I enjoyed killing her, you know, it's the little things in life that really help. What else happened...? Ah yes, Liara. She is one of the leading prothean experts and happens to be Benezia's daughter. I sent several ships and some krogan to retrieve her. It took three days for them to return with her... in less than perfect condition._

A krogan was pushing along one Liara T'Soni down a corridor and into the bridge. "Keep moving." He shoved her along.

"I'm going, I'm going." Liara was scared out of her mind, she was just excavating some prothean ruins, and then, out of nowhere a krogan leading a group of geth. Geth. The same ones who haven't been seen outside the Perseus Veil for nearly 300 hundred years and nearly caused the extinction of the quarians. She hid inside the ruins, hoping they wouldn't her, but, as luck would have it, they were after her.

She activated a security system by mistake while hiding and was trapped. It didn't take long for them to find her, but couldn't get to her, yet. She was stuck and she knew it. Several hours later they got behind her and found the controls. It didn't take long for the geth to turn the field off, and here we are. She was fidgeting every few seconds.

Saren was standing in the bridge with his back turned to Liara when she arrived. "I see that that they found you." Liara was freaking out now.

"Wh-what is i-it yo-you ne-need of m-me?" She was doing her best to keep calm, but was falling miserably.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of the conduit." Liara stop moving at this and got her act together.

"I've heard mentions of it, but not much else." Saren keeps staring forward.

"Take her to a holding cell." Several geth units grab Liara and take her away.

"Stop, let me go." The geth ignore her.

"Hodark." "Yes." "I am putting you in charge of her, make sure that she is taken care of. If anything, ANYTHING, happens to her, it is on your head. He nods unfazed.

"It will be done." He turns around and heads after Liara.

_I trusted the asari as much as I could throw her._

_What happened next... oh yea, the thorian; a massive plant creature on the planet Feros. After trading for the information I needed, I had the geth kill it._

Saren was walking down a flight of stairs to the thorian. With him was an asari and five geth units.

The thorian was a massive... plant... creature... thing. He didn't really know what it was nor did he care. It was something that lives under the ruins, a very strange place to live. What he did care for was the fact that it had something he needed. A way to understand the knowledge he received from the beacon on Anarv. Without it, he may never know where to find the conduit. His entire plan rests on the conduit, and without it, the return of the reapers may never happen.

The thorian was currently suspended in the middle of the room with a bottomless pit below it. Keeping it up were several large... nodes... connecting its body to the walls surrounding it. In front of it was an asari. She was sitting down in front of it praying to it as if it was some kind of god.

"The old growth welcomes you." The asari says as Saren gets close. She turns around to look at to group.

Saren pays little attention to the giant plant thing now and looks at the asari. "You speak for that?" Pointing at the thorian. "Yes." He nods at the words. "I wish to make a deal with it. I will give Shiala here" indicating to the asari next to him "in exchange for something to understand the knowledge I have received about the protheans."

Several moments pass with no movement from either side. "Why should the old growth agree to this, when it can take what it wants?"

Saren smirked "Because, the being I follow can easily wipe you from existence, so, you can give me what I want or you can perish before their might." The tone it was spoke in was deafly calm.

The asari took a step forward and her biotics started to glow around her "You dare threaten the old growth!"

"No. I give you facts. Give me what I want and I may forget that you exist or die. Choose wisely."

The asari stayed glowing for a while before she stops. "The old growth agrees. Afterwards, you are to leave and never return." Saren nods.

"Shiala, you know what to do." She nods before walking over to the creature. Once there, "embrace eternity" she melds with the creature. It takes only moments for it to finish before she came back. "What did you find?" She shakes her head no.

"It is not something that can be shared through words, only thoughts."

"Show me." She grabs the side of his head "embrace eternity". Their minds connected and became one. There he saw everything. He saw the life of Shiala, he ignored that. More information pass by him as he looked for what he want. It took only moments to find what he wanted, the cipher. The collective knowledge of the prothean people. With it, he finally understood the beacon and knew where the conduit was, Ilos. With the knowledge gained the meld ended.

He backed up a bit and shakes his head, slightly disorientated. It takes a moment for the effects to fade. "Our business is done." He turns and leaves the chamber.

In the drop ship to sovereign in orbit, Saren spoke to the geth unit across from it. "Destroy that place, leave nothing alive, and confirm the death of the thorian." The unit doesn't respond, but he knows the geth are carrying it out.

_It wasn't until two weeks later that I got a confirmation from the geth that the thorian was dead. I thought of leaving it alive, but the chances that someone would learn of my involvement, no matter how small, was simple to great. The geth being machines can simple rebuild their bodies, so they lost nothing._

_It wasn't until three weeks after the attack on Anarv that the final piece of the puzzle was retrieved. It was unfortunate on how it happened. The Rachni had gotten out of their cells on Noveria._

"You what?" Saren was angry.

"I destroyed the facility." Benezia was uncertain why she needed to repeat herself.

"Why!? The Rachni were needed for the plan." He was in her face, and was thinking about killing her.

"There was no way we could have controlled them as they were, and if left alone, others may have found them. It was best that all evidence was erased." It pained her to destroy the place, but it was need, or others may have come across the Rachni.

"You have better have the information I need or you are looking at a one way trip out the airlock." Benezia handed him a flash drive. He plugs it into his omni tool before saying "Fail again and you may not live. Now leave."

_With the information on how to get to Ilos now in my hands, I headed to Virmire to gather everything I had and check up on some things there._

Saren was talking to Rana Thanoptis, an asari neurospecialist. "The effects are, strange, in a way."

"Strange how?"

(A lot of neurology talk happens. I know nothing however, so don't trust it.)

"Well the way that the waves effect the brain is different than how one would think. Instead of implanting the thoughts it wants. The field sovereign produces changes the way our electrical signals are received and sent in our brains. For instance, every nanosecond, signals are sent throughout our body to control our movements and thought process. Sovereign can intercept the signals being sent and redirect it to different locations to produce different results. Because of this, it creates the thoughts in our heads. However, it can't tell what we are thinking. It has to use the way we react and what we say to determine it effeteness. Theoretical, it could control our bodies while we are close enough."

Saren takes this all in as best he can, knowing she did simplify it for him. He noticed her confused "Something wrong?"

She jumps a little "Oh, I'm just curious on how it's doing this."

Now Saren was confused "Didn't you just explain that?"

She shakes her head "No, what I explain was how it does what it does, what I'm confused about is how it knows it will produce said results. Assuming you're the first turian it came across, how would it know that redirecting signal a to location b will produce result c. There are thousands of locations and signals in the brain. You yourself said you felt the effect immediately, so how. It would have to know how the turian brain works beforehand to do so."

"Good question."

_I still don't have an answer to that question, how does sovereign know? I may never know._

_Anyway, just before we made it to Ilos, I received a report that the facility was destroyed by the salarians. How they found it I don't know, it however doesn't matter. The geth brought thousands of krogan with them when we left. They will be more than enough for the plan._

_**Flash back end**_

Saren was brought out of his thoughts by a geth unit. "Saren-prophet we have arrived."

Saren takes a moment to shake his head and gather his thoughts. He takes a step out of the transport to look at the conduit. "So this is it." Said device was around six stories tall and looked like a cannon. "Has it been confirmed that it leads to the citadel."

"Several units have been sent through and are on the citadel. They have already began the attack."

He nods before getting into the transport again "Take us through." A flash of light soon engulfs the transport.

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**Codex: The United Drell Alliance**

**In the year 1065 was when the Drell home world began its swift descent into lifelessness due to disastrous industrial expansion. It looked as if all hope for the survival of the Drell was lost, expect for one.**

**Faro Hiit.**

**Born in the year 1555, he saw the path the world was on and sought out ways to correct it.**

**At a young age, Faro could always see what is to come, even before it gave hints to it. At age 12, saved his mother from getting hit by a car that came speeding around a corner, before it came into sight.**

**At the age of 19, he joined the Newforgt College, with a major in engineering and a minor in speaking/presentation. He wanted to create new ways for his people to live safely.**

**Over the next 6 years he sends all his time studying all there is about machinery, and how they can be used.**

**Six months before he graduated, he found out the path the planet was on, death. He talked to many of his friends and family, and even some teachers, about what he found and they all said he was imagining everything and he should forget about it. He did the opposite, he continued doing researched into what he found well after he graduated, and even started a blog.**

**In one year's time, he found that he wasn't the only one to come across such information. He found 9 others who shared his concern. (M = male, F = female)**

**(F) Othafos Meit - A 36 year old security guard.**

**(M) Shinhi Drius - A computer expert.**

**(F) Ulohat Hoek - Head of a small failing business.**

**(M) Thinsan Roan - Has a major in building planning.**

**(M) Ronul Thiuk - Son of a rich father.**

**(F) Ishumi Moun - A scientist.**

**(M) Yaru Noek - Works at a local diner.**

**(F) Ufimu Luet - College student studying energy engineering.**

**(F) Ayilut Roen - A chief.**

**They talk often about the information they have and ways to fix it. They call themselves Phoelhe, meaning the protectors (made it up, deal with it.).**

**When he was 28, he found his solution, space. He found that if his people could get into space, they would be able to save their society. He bought this up with the others, and they agreed that it was the best solution they have, but they knew something like getting into space was going to be very difficult.**

**After a few weeks of planning, they found a place that they could work on their project in peace. They only had one problem, financing it.**

**Ronul was the only one with large sums of money that could be used to support the project, the problem was getting his father to support it. It took about four days, and deep explanation on why this would work. In the end, he agreed only because of his son.**

**After they got the money needed, they started building up the place, and hiring the necessary people. It took around 8 months to build the place. They each take up different roles to help support each other. The following 10 years where used to study, build, and test numerous models to see what worked and how to improve.**

**In the year 1595, they have their first spacecraft make it to orbit. The rest of Rakhana started to take great interest in what they have done. Other places around the world start their own programs to reach space.**

**23 years later, probes land on the only other planet in the system, Retot. Three months of survey later reveal ruins of unknown origins. It takes another six years to get five drell onto Retot with enough supplies to last several months.**

**7 months later, the five drell return with as much of the artifacts as they can.**

**Over the next several years, the drell spend massive amounts of time and effort to decode the artifacts. Through them they learn of the protheans and of mass effect technology. What they learn is not much, but it does point them in the right direction.**

**Talks are put into place to kelp unify the drell, but don't take hold until the year 1962 with first contact with the hanar. Through them, the drell make contact with the rest of the galactic** **community.**

**By the year 2180, the drell have four worlds, five dreadnoughts, 45 cruisers, and 200 frigates. The drell keep one dreadnought, 5 cruisers, and 20 frigates in each of their extrasolar colonies and the rest stay in their home system.**

**The drell are on the best terms with the hanar, and have the Compact, a deal between. It states that the drell will be the guards of the hanar and patrol their space, in exchange the hanar will help the drell learn about the galactic community, protheans, and mass effect technology. Because the drell patrol hanar space now, the turians have removed the patrols that went there before to pirate duty.**

**Much like the hanar, the drell are in self-imposed isolation and have few trade contacts with others, expect the hanar. In recent years, the drell have become more open with the rest of the galactic community.**

**Historians look back on drell history and say that the** **Phoelhe are the ones that lead the drell to where they are now, while the Phoelhe would say that it was Faro that brought it all about.**


	3. The End Of Everything

**Six: Well, here is another story for you all. Man, am I tired.**

**One: Well, take a nap.**

**Six: !? (Runs and hides.) Who the f*** are you?**

**One: You.**

**Six: ?... ?... That doesn't make any sense.**

**One: Well, I am, and you're crazy.**

**Six: F*** you. Go away and never return.**

**Three: Well, what of the rest of us?**

**Six: F*** my life,** **f*** my life.**

**edboy4926 and Midweekcomic13: Yes, I shot Tail... Wait, I didn't say killed. T-T**

**Dotton: Thank you. That was what I was going for. I hope to meet your expectations. Will we see two human fractions, maybe. Remember, halo can only be activated by a reclaimer, and as far as I know, the covenant don't have any. Humans are by nature a reclaimer, but the covenant don't know that and have no way to. Also, the flood is on the second halo, so they could stop the firing if needed. How does humanity fit in, well, you will find out in about five chapters.**

**Commissar Critical: Yes, they are the 'best warriors the ME universe has to offer'. This is because of their 1000 year life span and their biotics. They can hone their fighting abilities to unheard of levels. They are on the level of Special Forces. The reason the reapers 'curb stomped them' was because they are few in numbers and are more for guerrilla tactics. It is even said on the wiki, 'Since their units are small and typically lack heavy armor and support weapons, they are almost incapable of fighting a conventional war, particularly one of a defensive nature.' And that is why the reapers were winning. They're ninja, not knights, that is the krogan.**

**Unknown Sterata: Who said she's alive. I just didn't show it, but she died shortly after the meeting. I would have shown it after the meeting, but they had other stuff to do. She, however, would have lived if her plan worked, only because the people would have started a civil war if they killed the one who ended the war. I will add it though if you want.**

**Thank you all for the reviews, keep at it, it shows me how I can do better and what to change. Also, go check out my YouTube channel, link on my profile.**

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The transport flew out of the relay monument on the Citadel Presidium. It skidded to a halt several meters away. Slightly disorientated, Saren walked out of the transport with two geth Destroyers and four krogan warriors. The geth had shotguns, two krogan also had shotguns, and the other two had assault rifles.

Looking around, Saren saw death and destruction. The pieces of several races were spread out around the area, it would be hard to tell who was who if not impossible, along with a few geth units. He also took note of a few geth units repairing broken units. 'Smart. Doing that will give us a big edge.' The repaired ones might not be as strong as the originals, but they were still good enough for the fight.

He looked into space to see the geth fleet fighting the council defense fleet. He took note that sovereign was near the back and not doing much, expect destroying a ship every few minutes. He knew sovereign would act soon, and he needed to get to the control room fast. No matter how strong sovereign is, he will be destroyed if too many ships attack him at once. With the geth fleet, it wasn't much of a problem, but if reinforcements came, than there would be problems.

He turned back to the situation at hand. He needed the fastest way to the council chambers. He began thinking of all the times he's been on the citadel and what paths lead where. He remembered the walk ways, the elevator, the alleyways, and much more. Taking a few moments to put each piece of knowledge in the right place, he had his path.

Looking straight ahead, he sighed. He started jogging the way to the chambers, it was going to take a bit to get there.

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Ral Mur was his name. He was an 823 year old krogan battle master. One of the few actually. He was also a biotic. Before he joined up with Saren and the geth, he was a mec moving from job to job. He didn't have a family or any friends to speak of, well his crew could be considered his friends, but meh. He didn't really care. But they were a good crew, a crew that he wouldn't replace. All five of them. His life was good. Then Saren came, with talk of a better life and a cure for the genophage. The first part he couldn't give a dam about, his crew agreed. A better life meant less fighting and killing. What krogan would want that?

It was the second part that caught his interest though. A cure. That was new. He didn't think anyone was working on a cure, especially a turian. Did he trust him, no. He didn't trust anyone, except his crew. They were his krantt. But, with the promise of a battle like no other, well, he couldn't say no now could he.

So, with his crew he followed Saren to different places and jobs. He found out about the geth shortly after working for the guy, and sovereign. The geth he didn't care for, but sovereign, he did. His instincts screamed at him that the ship was bad news, and when his instincts say something is bad news, he listens. He wouldn't be here if he didn't. He kept himself and his crew away from the thing, and always followed on geth ships. He didn't know what was wrong with the ship, but he wasn't taking any chances.

He learned why later. Krogan and even that Benezia lady all went on the ship, and came back different. Some screaming about voices, and others saying Saren was a god. He didn't know what was happening, but knew more than ever to stay the hell away from the blasted ship.

He eventually found out his promise of a cure to be true. Ha. Who would have guessed that a turian would cure the krogan when they were the ones to cause it in the first place? He was also cloning them. Saren needed him to train the clones to be better fighters. A little dull, but if the battle was as big as he said it would, it was a small price.

Saren didn't trust him, and he would be right about that. He was in it for the battle and money. He knew that when it was all over, Saren was more than likely going to turn on him and his crew. Well, he was going to make sure he regrets it.

Then he follows to some new world and told of the goriest battle he promised. They were going to attack the citadel. Well, that was different. He thought they were going to attack omega or something, but the citadel. Now there was a goriest battle. With leads to now.

He was getting out of the transport after ridding it through the jump. His crew joining him. Him, his crew, and about 50 other krogan were the only organics coming through. They didn't have enough transports for them all. The others would come by ship, but there would be a hell ass lot of geth joining him. Turning, he saw a few already aiming and firing into the crowd.

He smiled, the battle would be grand in scale, and he would love every minute of it. He pulled out his Striker Assault Rifle, and took aim into the fleeing crowd and fired. Explosions followed wherever he fired.

The rest of his crew pulled out what he had or the striker assault rifle, and followed his example. Both guns are difficult to acquire and a bit on the expensive side. He didn't care though, they were his krantt, they would get the best guns and equipment he could get, or die trying. Both guns were meant to kill much bigger targets then asari sized ones, like thresher maws. So, when the rounds hit the crowd of civilian, it tore they to shreds.

It didn't take long for everyone to die.

"Hem, thought that would be harder." He shrugged. A small group of c-sec officers came running onto the scene shortly after.

"Geth. Kill them." They take aim and fire at will. Most shots are stopped by their shields, but they fail after enough hit them. However, it took only moments for the geth to respond to the attack. The following battle was short, with the geth only losing a few units. But, it was long enough that one of them radioed in about the attack.

The battle for the citadel has started.

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The battle of the citadel was short lived. C-sec was equipped to deal with thugs, pirates, and small time mercenaries. They had little in the way of heavy ordinance. They were not, however, equipped to deal with a full scale invasion, and so, were push back time and time again. The geth repaired what units they could, taking needed parts from other units or the surrounding area as needed. The geth easily had air superiority, with one frigate per citadel arm.

It was around seven minutes after the battle started that sovereign entered the citadel, as its arms closed around it. The geth had Armatures and even a few Colossus roaming around. With these and their pulse technology, the council forces stood little chance.

Ral, his crew, several geth platforms, and two geth Armatures were closing in on the turian, salarian, and asari councilors. They tried to escape, but their transport was shot down by the local geth frigate before it even got close. Now they were trapped at the transport hub, with the geth surrounding them.

The moment he found out the council was grounded, he knew he had to fight them. C-sec just wasn't cutting it. Sure they put up a good fight, but with the geth around, it was a little too easy. But, with the council was their personal guards, they would have much more training and better equipment. They would be a good foe and make the whole invasion worth it. Even with the betrayal.

He was outside the transport station. "Send me a map of the place with the council's location." He said to a geth platform near him. Nothing happened for a bit. But after about 30 seconds, a ping was heard from his omni tool. That would be the map. He looked at it to be sure.

Looking it over, he saw the position of the council. There were still a bit away. He also saw several reds zones, he could only assume that there was enemy combatants there. "This will be a good fight."

The council was up four stories and across the way. He also took note of the only way up was by sky car, good way to get kill, or by the stair way... to the left of him. He also took note of the fact that the Armatures weren't going to be able to follow. He shrugged.

It took him around three minutes to climb the stairs, they needed to get an elevator. Before even opening the door, he could hear all the gun fire, and an explosion. Someone had explosives.

He kicked the door open and rushed to cover. His crew following his lead. Rounds pinged off the cars they hide behind. Guash, his second, rose up and fired all three rounds to his shotgun. An explosion went off. The car c-sec was using as cover must have blown up.

That gave the rest of them an idea. Blow up the cars, blow up the enemy.

It was an easy tactic to follow, and an easy one to get around in most cases. Problem is, all there is to hide behind are cars. He stood up and fired at the last two unblown up cars. They exploded after four rounds hit them. With that, the last ones in the immediate area were dead. There were still others fighting in other places, but only two squads were in his way to the council. He grinned.

He casted a biotic barrier over himself before rushing forward. He took only a few steps before shots started pinging off his barriers. They didn't hit much, but when he got closer, it got worse. By the time he got within a few cars of the officers, his shields were gone and he had some puncture wounds. They would heal soon.

The others got into cover right after him, and their shields were only mostly down. The geth had attacked another group leaving us by ourselves. He shrugged, more fun for them.

He lopped a grenade over the car before standing and firing at anyone he saw. He saw only an asari, but meh. The grenade went off and separated the officers. The asari died after four shots. He threw a warp at another he saw spring up. Three left.

A grenade landed not too far from him. He jumped to the side and out of cover. His shields were hit the moment he hit the ground. As he stood up he casted another biotic barrier and got back into cover.

He saw another fall. Two left.

He waited for a bit. The moment they stood up to fire, so did he. He gun, plus his crew were more than a match for them. Zero left.

The geth were nearly finished with the officers they were fighting, but were nearly all dead themselves. He ignored them, more geth would show up to help. He moved on to the prize.

The council was only a short ways up. He knew to take it slow though. They likely had a sniper.

He was wrong.

They didn't have one, they likely didn't think they would need one. Their loss.

"All right men. The council and their guards are only a short ways up. Remember, these people aren't weak like the others. Give it everything you have." They grinned. This was going to be a grand battle. They stood and charged into cover a short ways up. They spread out to make it harder to catch them with grenades or singularity.

They were in range now, and they let them know. Rounds pinged off his cover, again and again.

He grabbed his last grenade and threw it over his cover, the others threw what grenades they had as well. Several explosions followed. He fired a few rounds off before getting back into cover.

That's how it went for a while. Get up, fire a few rounds, and get back into cover. Repeat.

After the geth arrived did it turn in their favor.

They brought two armatures, he ideally noted they could be the ones from before, three hoppers, two rocket troopers, a juggernaut, and several troopers.

The hoppers were what the guards targeted most, so that gave the others mostly free rein. Some guards still targeted them, just they saw the hoppers as a bigger threat, what with all that hopping around and taking pot shot at them. Who wouldn't?

It would have been a slaughter if the asari didn't always have a biotic barrier up protecting everyone. As it was, they had lost three troopers and not one guard has been killed. At the rate they were going, they were all going to die before even one guard was. That why he put a plan in motion.

Biotic barriers are strong, no doubt about that. But, even they will collapse into themselves with enough punishment. However, they keep switching out the people when they get tried, and based on what he's seen, they got six biotic users. That means three pairs.

He told the geth to keep the rocket troopers and the juggernaut in cover. When they questioned it, he replied: "Saren wants these people dead now. Not in six hours, now. So, if you want to get this done, you'll listen to me, or I'll get someone who will."

That shut them up. Mostly because of Saren, but, meh, it works.

He waited for a bit, waiting for the current pair to show signs of wear. He kept firing though, they might see through the plan if not enough of them were attacking.

When there was one hopper and six troopers left did he see it. "Fire!" The rocket troopers and the juggernaut burst from cover and fired every rocket they had. The moment the rockets hit the weaken barriers, he knew he had them. They wouldn't have enough time to put up another set of barriers. Smoke covered the sense, but he knew they were down. The armatures fired off a siege pulse each and anything else they had.

The other geth fired as well. It was 15 seconds after the first rockets hit that another wave of rockets hit. "Hold fire, hold fire. Their dead. No need to waste ammo." He was right, not even a tank would have lived through that, and they were much stronger than any barriers they could put up. But what really sealed the deal was the guards were not firing anymore. "I am KROGAN!" Yes, this invasion was good.

The smoke cleared to show to show the area...

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**Five minute before hand**

Saren pulled the trigger one last time, killing the last c-sec guard in the area.

With them gone, the council chambers were secured. He left he's guards outside as he headed in.

Sovereign was already attached himself to citadel tower and extruded cables into it. He was manually overriding the internal systems to activate its mass relay function. It would take about 20 minutes or so for it to activate. In the meantime, Saren got comfortable. It was going to be a while. May as well rest up.

It wasn't even a minute later that he heard gun fire outside the chambers. 'Why don't they give up?' The fighting lasted another minute, before it was quiet. He breathed deeply. Once the reapers were here, everything would end, and a new beginning would start.

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**Six: Please go away, I have a story to write.**

**Three: We can't leave, we're you.**

**Five: Get over it, we're staying and there's nothing you can do about it.**

**Six: I'm sure I could kill you all.**

**Two: That wouldn't work, we would just come back. So long as you live, so we will.**

**Six: ... Wouldn't it still hurt?**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**Six: Fuck yea. Time to die bitches! (Pulls out a PS90) DIE!**

**One: LEAVE A LIKE AND A REVIEW. (Several rounds pass by his head.) PLEASE HELP US. CALL THE POLICE.**


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